Just The Way You Are
by SashaAlexanders
Summary: It's Scully's 18th Birthday and Mulder wants to spoil her. Cute and fluffy.


They had been together for a while now, Mulder's 18th Birthday a few months prior had marked their two year anniversary, but they had known each other almost their whole lives. Mulder knew that he had been in love with Dana Katherine Scully for as long as he had known her, and that he always would be till he drew his last dying breath. She was his best friend. His soul mate. The love of his life. She was his world and he loved her more than he ever thought was possible. He would do anything for her, and she him. He knew her better than he knew himself. Dana Scully was like his favourite book, one that he knew word for word, page for page, one that you could read over and over and never tire, one that you learnt something new from each time you read it, one so beautiful it would be engrained into your mind, body and soul for all eternity.

Today marked a special occasion. It was Scully's 18th Birthday. The day she was legally the strong, beautiful, phenomenal woman that Mulder already knew and loved. With this Birthday as the last before they both went off to college, Mulder knew it had to be extra special, much like everything was when it came to Scully. For Christmas he had given her a rather expensive diamond encrusted promise ring, which he knew Scully would love as it symbolised that they would be together forever (and that their love was strong enough to overcome going to colleges on different continents from one another) but he knew this gift would mean even more to her than the last one.

Mulder, even though sometimes -okay most of the time- didn't seem like he listened to Scully, he actually listened to every word out of her beautiful mouth. Almost a year ago they had been visiting New York on a school trip and the pair found themselves in a quaint little boutique hidden away on a side road. Scully had fallen in love with pretty much everything in the store, but the one thing that caught her eye most was a compact mirror. Mulder being a guy didn't really see the appeal or beauty in it like Scully but he could see that Scully had fallen for it.

"But look how cute it is!" He remembered Scully gushing over the little circular object.

"I thought you didn't like cats" Mulder shrugged in return, looking at the little mirror in her hand.

"Its not a cat!" Scully pouted, holding the mirror in front of Mulder's eyes. "Its a fox" she said. "And I happen to_ love _foxes" she said matter-of-factly, smiling cheekily at Mulder.

It almost broke his heart to see her face drop once she saw the price tag, throwing the mirror back into the pile. Mulder had later snuck off and bought the mirror for Scully and she almost did him there in the middle of 5th avenue in front of the class when he handed it to her. The mirror broke two weeks later and Scully had never really gotten over it.

As much as he hated to encourage vanity, Mulder had gone out of his way to find another one. After months of looking and still nothing, Mulder decided that he would get one specially made for her. And this time it wouldn't break within 14 days. It was going to be the best quality anybody could make, because Dana Scully deserved nothing less than the best! After Scully had dropped the hint that she, like every other girl on the planet, loved Tiffany, Mulder started to scan the website. That's where he had found the diamond encrusted promise ring in the shape of an infinity sign and along with that, he purchased a plain silver compact mirror. He smiled to himself as he purchased the items, he really must love Scully if he was dipping _that_ much into his trust fund for her.

For a few days, Mulder had been having an internal battle on whether or not he should decorate the compact himself, but eventually he decided to send it off and get it done properly. There was no way he was going to spend so much money on something for him to ruin it by gluing his finger to it!

He hated buying her anything that would be classed as 'vanity'. He knew that Scully didn't really have much confidence in her appearance. She was short, pale and freckly and had red hair, whereas most other teenagers were tall, tanned and blonde. But to Mulder (and most other boys with a pulse) Scully was perfect. He loved the fact she was short, she was just the right size for him. He loved her red hair, it was the most vibrant red he had ever seen and it was silky and smelled like cherries and only got more beautiful when the sun hit it. He loved that she was fair skinned and had freckles, when she was sleeping he loved to count them or join them up or pretend he was a star-gazer, making out constellations on her milky skin. He loved every single thing about Scully and he had no problem letting her know that. He didn't want a tall, tanned, blonde barbie clone that cared more about their appearance than anything else. He had the most beautiful, rare and unique gem that was Scully and there was no way he would trade her for a boring, dime store replica. But, he knew that the compact meant a lot more to Scully than just a mirror and he knew it would make her happy. There wasn't anything in this world he wouldn't do to make her happy.

Patting down his breast pocket for what felt like the 50th time, Mulder let out a sigh of relief when he felt the bulge of the Tiffany blue box. He pulled into the Scully residence driveway, swallowing hard as he noticed Bill's car was there. Shrugging it off, he got out of the car and made his way up the driveway to the front door. He patted his breast pocket again as he waited for somebody to answer.

"Fox!" Maggie smiled, stepping aside to let the young boy in. "Oh my, you look handsome!" She smoothed down the lapels of his tux as she greeted him, kissing him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Mrs Scully" Mulder smiled. "Is Dana ready yet?"

"Not yet dear, she's up in her room with Missy. Come, sit down" Maggie led Mulder into the living room where Charlie almost knocked him off his feet.

"Hey buddy!" Mulder smiled down at the young, red haired boy, his fingers lost in Charlie's deep red locks.

"Mulder, you wanna play foosball with me?" Charlie asked excitedly, jumping up and down.

"Sure. Only one game though" Mulder smiled as he followed the young boy down into the basement.

"Ow! Missy, not so rough!" Scully squirmed as Melissa pinned the top half of Scully's hair back.

"Oh stop complaining" Missy tapped Scully's shoulder with the hairbrush. "There!" She smiled proudly. "All finished".

"Thanks Missy" Scully smiled, examining herself in the mirror. Her hair rested just below her shoulders and fell in soft, loose curls as two of the front bits were twisted and pinned back. She was wearing her new yellow sun dress from Missy which was a little shorter than what Scully would normally wear (it ended mid-thigh) and the waist band was sheer and had lacey patterns on in the shape of swirls.

"Dana, you look beautiful!" Missy gushed. Scully looked beautiful when she rolled out of bed on a Monday morning, but throw a bit of makeup on her, do her hair and put her in a dress and her beauty was enough to stop traffic.

"Really?" Scully scrunched up her face. "You don't think its too much?"

"No! You look gorgeous! I promise" Missy smiled honestly. "Now you and Fox go have fun. I want all the dirty details in the morning!" Missy added with a wink.

"No no no no no!" Mulder shouted, his arms working frantically. "Ah man!" He exclaimed as Charlie's arms pumped up into the air, celebrating his victory. "You're just too good!" Mulder fake sighed, his back to the stairs and completely unaware Scully had come down and that she and Missy were watching him.

"Or you're just too bad" Scully teased from the doorway, getting Mulder's attention.

Mulder smiled as soon as he heard her voice, turning and almost dropping dead when his eyes landed on her.

"Hey!" Mulder smiled warmly after a few moments. "Happy Birthday, baby" he kissed her softly on the lips, ignoring the sounds of disgust from Charlie in the background. "You look... Wow, you look incredible!" Mulder smiled, his eyes scanning Scully up and down.

"Thank you" Scully smiled slightly, her cheeks starting to burn and blush as Mulder checked her out. She swore he just needed the cartoon eyes and drool. "Mulder, stop staring! You're making me nervous"

"Sorry" Mulder blinked. "Its just, _wow_!" he added, trying his hardest to peel his eyes away from his unbeliveably stunning girlfriend, who just so happened to be showing a whole lotta leg right now!

"Told you he'd like the dress" Missy smirked, before she and Charlie headed back up the stairs leaving Mulder and Scully alone in the games room.

"I er, I got you something" Mulder smiled.

"Mulder!" Scully gasped. "I told you not to! Not after Christmas!".

"Eh!" Mulder waved her off. "I love you and I wanted to spoil you".

Scully smiled as she wrapped her arms around Mulder's neck, admiring her ring as the light bounced off the diamonds before she pulled him in for a quick kiss.

"Do you want it here or at the restaurant?" Mulder asked once they had pulled away, his arms wrapped around her tiny waist and hers around his neck.

"Ummmm" Scully bit her lip. "Now!" She grinned up at him like a child.

"Okay" Mulder smiled again, fishing out the box from his pocket.

"Mulder!" Scully gasped again as her eyes landed on the iconic box. She gently pulled the white ribbon with her fingers and opened the box. "Oh my God, Mulder!" Scully squealed, her face lighting up. She threw herself around him and kissed him hard, her eyes filling with tears. "I can't believe it!" She squealed again, this time pulling the mirror from the box.

On the front was a diamanté skull next to a diamanté fox and a tiny little love heart in the bottom corner. Scully brushed a perfectly manicured nail over the bumpy front, subconsciously stroking the fox.

"Open it" Mulder smiled.

Scully did as was instructed and her heart began to pound in her chest as she did. On the inside, where the mirror was supposed to be was just plain silver with an inscription. A tear rolled down Scully's cheek as she recognised the font to be Mulder's own handwriting. Messy but perfect in its own way. Scully swallowed hard as she read the inscription; _you're perfect just the way you are_.

"Oh Mulder!" Scully smiled, throwing her arms around him once again, catching his bottom lip between her own. "I love you so much!" She smiled as she felt him kiss away her tears.

"I love you more" he smirked.

"In this moment, that's not possible!" Scully laughed, resting her head against his chest. "You look really hot in that tux, by the way".

"Thank you" Mulder smiled, kissing the top of her head. His arm wrapped around her body as he took the special, personalised gift in his hands. He fiddled with the bottom, lifting it up. "It does have a mirror" he smiled as their reflection showed up in the mirror, man they looked adorable right now! Mulder thought to himself, his chin resting on top of Scully's head and their arms wrapped around one another "But you don't really need that because you're perfect just the way you are".

As Mulder tilted the compact towards Scully, something tiny fell from the hidden bottom. Luckily Scully caught it before it fell onto the shag carpet and got lost forever.

"Mulder?" Scully asked, holding the tiny thing in the palm of her hand.

"Oh, I almost forgot about that!" Mulder laughed.

Scully examined the item in her hand. Her breath hitched as she realised what it was. It was a whale charm to add to the charm bracelet Mulder bought her the first Christmas they were together. He really did like to spoil her, in both expensive gifts and love.

"I know how much you love _Moby Dick_, so here's you very own white, or in this case silver, whale!"

"You're too good for me, you know that!" Scully smiled as Mulder added the charm to her bracelet. She already had a heart, a crucifix (from her parents), a teddy, a Buddha (clearly off Melissa), an elephant (again, clearly off Melissa) and several pretty balls with different colours and patterns on them.

"Nope!" Mulder said simply, pulling Scully tighter to his chest. "You're the one who's too good for me" he replied as she pulled him down and into another kiss, only this time it was a more passionate one. The only reason they parted was because Scully's parents had made their presence known by Bill snr clearing his throat and letting them know if they didn't hurry, they'd miss their dinner reservations.

Scully couldn't believe it. She knew Mulder loved her, he always made her feel loved every single day. He would send her really cute good morning texts and even cuter good night ones. She loved him in ways she didn't even understand. He was truly incredible. He was the only person she would ever love, and she knew that. Nobody could, or would ever compare to him. What they had was special. Forever. Unbreakable. They knew each other better than they knew themselves. For years they had had this unspoken bond, this unspoken love. Everybody knew what they had/have is special. It wasn't a shock to either set of parents when they had announced they were together. Scully would follow him to the ends of the earth and do anything for him she loved him so much. As long as she was with Mulder, she knew that she would be happy and that nothing could scare her. All they needed was each other and everything would be okay, as long as they had their love, they could conquer whatever life threw at them.

_**It was probably crap and its my first X-Files fic but I thought it was really cute. I hope you liked it anyway. Please review ;) Okay bye.**_


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